At School - The solution
What are the issues?
The industry across film, television, interactive media and computer games, universally states that there is a need to help create a media literate society, and that the skills required to analyse, interpret and enjoy content begin at an early stage in a child's development.
Media literacy allows individuals to learn about the society in which we live. It informs, educates and entertains, and impacts on our daily lives constantly through its various channels.
The skills acquired to become media literate help shape our society, create discerning individuals, and are transferable across other subject areas.
Young people should also gain self-education skills ('learning how to learn'), alongside creativity and technological literacy, including effective use of the internet and search engines. Broad information literacy and an awareness of the value of intellectual property should also be promoted.
Employers frequently cite the need for well-rounded individuals with a sound, broad-based education, and critical thinking and reasoning skills, rather than faux semi-vocational specialists. The industry has a pre-dominantly graduate entry workforce, which suffers from over-supply, and is far from enamoured with current qualifications and structures in media.
What are we proposing?
Skillset is uniquely positioned to be able to view the entry points, progression routes and transferable skills required to build a career in a fast–changing and inter–connected industry.
- We would propose that media literacy be embedded into the curriculum and given enhanced status as a subject and that teachers are fully supported in teaching media and using the media as a teaching tool.
- We would also wish to ensure that employers are given the opportunity to input into and help develop the curriculum in this crucial area.
- We would urge the school system not to push pupils into vocational channels too early.
- We would propose greater industry involvement in the development of schools–based qualifications and urge restraint by not over–promoting media (vocational) qualifications and apprenticeships for 14–17 year olds.
What should be done?
The industry, through Skillset, will work with the relevant agencies, authorities and the relevant awarding bodies to:
- Support, where appropriate, the work of ELSPA to take forward plans with the DfES to increase and improve the use of computer games as part of education and harness the appeal that computer games have for the classroom.
- Support, where appropriate, the ‘Making Games’ project run by the Institute of Education that is developing tools based on computer games to enable school students to learn the ‘literacy of games and mechanics of construction’, whilst developing their problem solving, value judgement, negotiating and decision making skills.
- Skillset will be working with SQA on Skills for Work courses relevant to the audio visual sector and there may be an opportunity to develop some of the areas in line with the Interactive Media industries.
- Input intelligence, advise on curriculum development, and make available content and resources to support, promote and encourage media literacy, and produce proposals for employer involvement in curriculum development.
- Industry will seek to work with schools to ensure that pupils do not specialise too early and that they gain an awareness of the overall interactive media skill set, including a solid grounding in the core skills of literacy, numeracy, ICT, problem solving and the general transferable and enduring skills that they will need in work, and which will underpin their later learning of industry–specific or transient skills.
- Work with the pre–existing Computer Clubs for Girlsproject to incorporate skills issues arising from the Interactive Media and Computer Games industries.
- PGCE course developers will be supported, where possible, by industry to ensure their courses include coverage of the applied use and teaching of interactive media techniques and ICT.
